Public Art and Urban Design in New York City

Catalog description

Explores the history of public arts and urban built environments in New York City, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. The city itself will be a key resource, and the course will involve site visits to a number of key monuments, institutions, and other locales. The focus of study will include statues, memorials, plaques, parks, and street furniture, and the people, institutions, and events that produced them. Drawing on perspectives from art history, American Studies, and urban and social history, the course will consider the impact of such developments as war, immigration and urbanization, political reconfigurations and commercial expansion, ethnic, racial, and interpersonal conflict, tourism, and terrorism.